This is a great article Joshua. I like how you used a concrete example of a possible repercussion.
The quote from Justice Kagan, “Congress makes broad delegations in part so that agencies can adapt their rules and policies to the demands of changing circumstances,” it spot on.
I have not posted here in some time. I am simply too frustrated.
Example: Everyone out there is behaving like the pandemic is long gone. Wait for the next several days to see how many more persons come down with this extremely contagious virus! TV with persons celebrating yesterday often yielded something along the lines of “Now that the pandemic is over, I can celebrate…..” Blah blah blah. Good luck!
It is beyond belief for me.
Agree with you that there is a disconnect between what people perceive and what is reality. The reality is that we’re in an ongoing pandemic, with a clever virus. It’s not all bleak, however, as the vaccinations and natural immunity have helped to attenuate the severity of disease for most people. And so there has been some decoupling between cases and hospitalizations, and even more decoupling between cases and deaths. The problem is that as a nation we’re still at around 350 to 400 deaths per day (7-day average), which is well above what would be a bad influenza year.
My biggest concern going forward is BA.2.75 (first detected in India). This could very well be the next Delta-like wave, with a relatively high degree of severe disease. And, this would likely strike in autumn, if it hits us. The latter is to be determined. Not all new (sub)variants compete well. My hope is it fizzles out.
yikes
Having spent the day making just shy of 30 calls to rehome our skunks and being told by law in the state of MA unless skunks are out back on the same property, they must be euthanized, I give up on people.
We all know how I feel about how we have don’t nothing to protect our kids and school staff. And in general how I feel about people actually believing the pandemic is over
I need to find an island to move to
Joshua, if most mask mandates hadn’t been lifted this year, would hospitalizations and deaths be all that much lower at this point?
Would your concerns about these new variants be pretty much the same?
Good question. I’m interested in Joshua’s input. If international travel adds to,the spread, removing masks on planes and ending testing seems as if it would exacerbate the spread
Masking helps, but isn’t a panacea. If we all did it consistently like in Japan, we’d be in a good place (as Japan is; done remarkably well throughout the pandemic). But, we’re not Japan, for better and for worse.
I’ve never understood the fact that judges – who have no knowledge of public health – took the federal authority away with respect to masking on planes, trains, and buses.
I do understand Covid fatigue, by the way. It’s been a long period of time.
I had the same thoughts. I wonder had we not ended the distancing in tandem with the masking if that would have made a difference. My thought it that vaccines ran hand in hand with both
BA.5 has an R0 of 18.6, which means that 1 infectious person will on average infect 18.6 others.
For context, measles is 12-18 R0.
Wuhan strain R0 of 3.3
Delta strain R0 of 5.1
Omicron BA.1 R0 of 9.5
BA.2 R0 of approx 13.3
BA.4/5 R0 of 18.6
We still don’t know for sure what it is for BA.2.75. It appears to be higher than 18.6 and more virulent. This virus is stealth.
My latest Forbes piece is on the potential implications of the Supreme Court’s EPA decision on other regulatory agencies, such as the FDA. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2022/07/05/supreme-court-decision-on-epa-could-have-implications-for-other-regulatory-agencies-like-fda/
This is a great article Joshua. I like how you used a concrete example of a possible repercussion.
The quote from Justice Kagan, “Congress makes broad delegations in part so that agencies can adapt their rules and policies to the demands of changing circumstances,” it spot on.
Quite a statistic – Covid-19 was the number 1 cause of death in 2020 and 2021 in the 45-54 age group: https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1544336564653658113
Persistent virus. BA.5 is upon us, also in Massachusetts: https://twitter.com/CMichaelGibson/status/1544391911078764550
Thank you Joshua.
I have not posted here in some time. I am simply too frustrated.
Example: Everyone out there is behaving like the pandemic is long gone. Wait for the next several days to see how many more persons come down with this extremely contagious virus! TV with persons celebrating yesterday often yielded something along the lines of “Now that the pandemic is over, I can celebrate…..” Blah blah blah. Good luck!
It is beyond belief for me.
Agree with you that there is a disconnect between what people perceive and what is reality. The reality is that we’re in an ongoing pandemic, with a clever virus. It’s not all bleak, however, as the vaccinations and natural immunity have helped to attenuate the severity of disease for most people. And so there has been some decoupling between cases and hospitalizations, and even more decoupling between cases and deaths. The problem is that as a nation we’re still at around 350 to 400 deaths per day (7-day average), which is well above what would be a bad influenza year.
My biggest concern going forward is BA.2.75 (first detected in India). This could very well be the next Delta-like wave, with a relatively high degree of severe disease. And, this would likely strike in autumn, if it hits us. The latter is to be determined. Not all new (sub)variants compete well. My hope is it fizzles out.
yikes
Having spent the day making just shy of 30 calls to rehome our skunks and being told by law in the state of MA unless skunks are out back on the same property, they must be euthanized, I give up on people.
We all know how I feel about how we have don’t nothing to protect our kids and school staff. And in general how I feel about people actually believing the pandemic is over
I need to find an island to move to
Joshua, if most mask mandates hadn’t been lifted this year, would hospitalizations and deaths be all that much lower at this point?
Would your concerns about these new variants be pretty much the same?
Good question. I’m interested in Joshua’s input. If international travel adds to,the spread, removing masks on planes and ending testing seems as if it would exacerbate the spread
Masking helps, but isn’t a panacea. If we all did it consistently like in Japan, we’d be in a good place (as Japan is; done remarkably well throughout the pandemic). But, we’re not Japan, for better and for worse.
I’ve never understood the fact that judges – who have no knowledge of public health – took the federal authority away with respect to masking on planes, trains, and buses.
I do understand Covid fatigue, by the way. It’s been a long period of time.
I had the same thoughts. I wonder had we not ended the distancing in tandem with the masking if that would have made a difference. My thought it that vaccines ran hand in hand with both
https://twitter.com/harryilesmann/status/1544187023149281280?s=21&t=EUaehqAZho1y9lsM8nsgMg
And this. We are ….sorry, I’m at a loss words as to what we are…..or polite words anyway
https://twitter.com/epiellie/status/1544304812619141125?s=21&t=m2eRrT3rQasFkKE265sDiA
C-19
7-6
ready